Batch updating is a problem when a user needs to make the same or similar changes on multiple change requests (or bug records) by editing a single change request and then applying those changes to all requests in the batch. The problem is figuring out how the changes from the first change request should be applied to all subsequent requests the way the user intended. This is a problem often encountered in change request (bug tracking) systems where many change requests may need to be updated at once, for example as part of iteration planning.
Mistakes in batch update can be extremely costly in terms of time and lost data. It is not uncommon for hundreds of change requests to be misplaced or to be updated incorrectly. Batch update is often used when performing a triage on a backlog of requests, or moving several requests into the new iteration. Mistakes can cause these requests to get misplaced, lost, or overwritten. Requests often contain valuable information like customer data, detailed descriptions, logs, etc. Usually users and administrators are left going through change requests one by one, or restoring a database backup, when batch update is supposed to be a time saver.
A common solution is to simply copy the field values or the deltas from the first change request into subsequent requests, but this does not always match the user's intent. Data is lost and productivity is lost by having to go back and fix forms that were incorrectly changed.